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What I love the most about blogging is that it gives me opportunity to meet achievers, celebrities from different walks of life. Be it fashion designers or Bollywood stars or Master Chefs, I have been fortunate to interview some very interesting personalities who we celebrate and who inspire us.

And today, I am delighted to share with you a tete a tete with the very popular Celebrity-Chef Kunal Kapur at his lovely signature Indian restaurant, Patiala by Kunal Kapur located in the beautiful Souq-al-bahar.

Chef Kunal Kapur is Chef Extraordinaire and is much loved as TV show host too. He has won several culinary and television awards and has even written a cookbook called ‘A Chef in every home’.

* Crispy Vegetable Envelope (AED 62) – This was just their star dish according to me. It looks amazing with so many different colours on your plate. It is pickled veggies wrapped in filo pastry served with couscous and mango moilee. It just tasted ahhhmazing. I have never had something like that before and so full marks for creativity here.

* Dal Makhani (AED 30) – Loved the dal – was light, not too oily or creamy and very yummy.

I was vegetarian for the day but the chicken kebabs looked pretty tempting.

So, the good thing about this place is that whether you are a vegetarian or a non-vegetarian, there are loads of options for either.

Now for the desserts, I absolutely loved the Mango shrikhand (AED 48). The Gulkand Kulfi was quite nice with the rose after taste.

So, all in all, Spice and ice is totally worth a try They are running a lot of promotions too at the minute. You can also make use of Entertainer vouchers here.

We have a new dessert café called Chocolate Bar now open in the Galleria Mall, Palm Jumeirah.

And trust me, as yummy as the name sounds, as ahhhmazing are the desserts being served in this very cosy joint, which looks very promising.

I was more than happy to give my diet a well deserved break and went on the launch event of the Chocolate bar which is a few minutes walk from my place.

And I absolutely loved my hot chocolate fudge with vanilla ice cream.

They also do pastas, pizzas and sandwiches.

Commenting at the launch event, Alison Nelson, Founder – Chocolate Bar said “We have had a remarkable journey so far for Chocolate bar in the UAE. We have been growing tremendously in the country, and we are committed to creating a memorable culinary experience for all our guests.”

So, do check this place out when you are craving for some mouth-watering desserts. And don’t forget to share your experience with me either here in the comments below or you can find me on Instgram/Twitter/Snapchat at @ChandniLahoti.

4 years back, when I came to Dubai as a tourist from London, me and hubby were pretty sure that during this trip we got to enjoy three things to the fullest – the sun, the food and the glittering nightlife this city is so famous for. And so, with a checklist of top 10 things we must tick off during our trip, we were most excited to check out the Cavalli Club which proudly reckoned itself as the hottest nightlife spot in the Sheikhland in all google searches. I remember feeling all stunned as soon as I stepped into the Club and its glamorous ambience with those giant chandeliers took me off my feet. Well, you cannot expect anything less than a place that has the name of someone like Roberto Cavalli associated with it. I absolutely fell in love with Cavalli Club and always recommended it to friends visiting Dubai.

4 years down, here I am, living in Dubai and once again absolutely love-struck with Cavalli Club. The only difference was that this time over, I had the pleasure of being invited to try out their new sumptuous Italian menu, handpicked by Roberto Cavalli himself.

And it was a delight to enjoy the lavish dinner whilst learning all about the dishes from none other than the Head Chef of Cavalli Club, Chef Francesco Stara, who describes his delicious creations as traditional, fresh, natural, seasonal, passionate and humble.

The very talented Bar-tender of the club made the most amazing cocktails for me and hubby and shared the history behind them too.

So, wanna know the details of the lavish dinner? Well, here it is but prepared as the description of the dishes in the words of Chef Francesco (CF) himself is surely gonna make your taste-buds go samba. (smiles)

As starter

Burrata , pomodori canditi e melograno e quinoa

Fresh Italian Burrata with tomato confit, quinoa and pomegranate

CF- This is a combination of healthy ingredient put together with the amazing textures of the creamy burrata cheese.

Melanzane alla Parmigiana

Crispy Eggplant parmigiana and pinzimonio salad

CF –This is a really traditional recipe just seen in a different way and combine with a more crunchy texture from the fillo pastry

**

Capesante,topinambur e cicorie

Scallop saltimbocca, topinambur cream,and chicory puntarelle salad

CF – The scallop is super fresh and very sweet in flavor, we wrap it with goose speck to give it smoky flavor and we serve with topinambur cream and some chicory to balance the acidity and bitterness in the dish

As middle course

Fregola ai funghi di bosco e tartufo nero

Fregola with wild mushroom and black winter truffle V

CF –The fregola is a pasta originally were I am from (SARDINIA) and usually is made with seafood but this time we have an amazing seasonal mushroom that with the help of the winter black truffle gives a sensation to be in the mountain forest with all the perfume and flavor.

This kind of ravioli is as well originally from my beautiful land and is very hard to make because of the shape. It’s 100 % handmade and filled with goat ricotta coming from the hearth Sardinia. We propose the dish with eggplant cream (sassarese style with garlic parsley and chili ) like in my original city is SASSARI and finish with some fresh cherry tomato and Canonau wine reduction also from Sardinia.

As main course

Salmone, consistenze di rape rosse e radicchio

Pan fried wild salmon, variation of bloody beetroot, and radicchio

CF – The salmon is a really simple dish in terms of ingredients but we try to make it more interesting by deconstructing the beetroot and serving in different consistence (cream, sous vide, raw,powder, gelly, and bubble) we finish with some radicchio tardive and shisso cress to stay on the same tone of colour.

CF – The chicken breast is cooked sous vide to preserve the softness and the nutrient characteristic. We serve it with some purple carrot puree and some seasonal heirloom baby carrot. It’s finish with some pioppini mushroom and chanterelle with touch of bread sauce

As dessert

Semifreddo alla liquerizia e tartufo

Liquorice and truffle parfait

CF – This is frozen mousse with truffle and liquorice taste serve with chocolate crumble and a reproduction of stone made with white chocolate.

Sorpresa di cioccolato

Chocolate surprise

CF – The chocolate texture is a mix of 6 different consistencies and flavour of chocoolate that combine together to give this sensation of surprise in the mouth.

Delizzia al limone di sorrento

Sorrento Lemon delight

CF – The lemon is definatly our signature dessert because of the beauty and the goodness of the lemon that we reproduce in different variance with more aggressive acidity and more fruity appeal .

Now, coming to my verdict –

The ambience of the place – This place has a stunning ambience and it reminds me of Vegas clubs.

The feel of the place – Cavalli Club is one of those rare places where you can enjoy a fine dining experience along with some serious clubbing in a lavish setting. You would so want to book this place for your special occasions.

The food – Undoubtedly one of the best food experiences I h.ave had in my life until now, hands down.

The service – The staff of Cavalli Club is courteous, friendly and prompt.

So peeps, Cavalli Club gave me yet another beautiful memory and it certainly is one of my most favourite places not only in Dubai but in the world. The new menu is amazing and totally worth it. Do give this place a try and trust me to fall in love with it, just like me. And if you do visit it after reading my review, I would absolutely love to hear it from you here or on my Instagram/Twitter/Snapchat at @ChandniLahoti.

It’s Thursday – the happiest day in the Sheikhland when everyone I am sure is busy planning up the much awaited weekend and well here is something that I would love to share with you all if you too are a foodie like me and love exploring new places to eat on the weekends.

So yesterday I was delighted to be invited to a Bloggers’ Lunch organised by my favourite ladies from the Tish Tash PR agency. It was great to meet the fellow bloggers and hey there was this little gem of a place that I got to discover yesterday – the East kitchen in JLT is a fusion kitchen which serves the freshest of ingredients and you can choose from salads to sushi to curries.

I got to try a variety of lovely food from their menu from spring rolls to sushi to noodles to curries.

… and let me tell y’all, it was yummilicious.

My favourite was the Shanghai noodles and the spring rolls.

Well if you are a sushi-lover , you would love to know the tempting family and wallet friendly offer they are running at the moment – every Saturday evening between 6 pm to 11 pm you can enjoy unlimited sushi all for AED 99. Now how fantastic an offer is that!

And all you mommies out there, for children up the age of 10, this place is offering beginner friendly maki rolls for lunch and dinner for AED 20 only.

And oh my God, their desserts are AHHMAZING.

They do some delicious Banana spring rolls too.

East Kitchen also offers free home delivery within New Dubai, so I guess foodwise, I have sorted out the weekend for you. If you do go and try this place, I would love to hear in comments.

Follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @myeastfusion for regular updates and offers.

I hope you find this review helpful. On a side note, thank you so for all the love and support you gave me in the last few days by following up on all my social media channels. As a new sleepless and overworked mommy, it is at times very tough to find out time to blog but every like and comment from you is a big motivation for me to blog more and blog better. Thank you so much and stay tuned for some amazing blog posts that I have planned for the next few days.

How is 2015 coming along? At my end, the year has started on a super busy note.

A 3 month old to handle, all the trauma of packing and then unpacking while moving houses, setting up the new home – humph!

Thinking about is all is also making me feel tired as I am writing this post but hey during such busy times, when there is just no time to cook, what can bring a big smile on my face are the yummy takeaways.

And today I am going to share with you about this gem of a takeaway place that I have discovered.

Red Star Wok Asian Takeaway just made a grand entry into my life on a Sunday afternoon when I was going made with unpacking some hundreds of cartons as I moved into my new house.

Just at the time I had ordered it to come, the door bell rang and delivered to me was a bag filled with Thai food goodness.

The Thai Green Curry with tofu and vegetables along with steamed rice that I had ordered came in all fresh, hot and packed nicely. There was some chilli sauce and complimentary prawn crackers too.

The food was delicious and all for AED 54, it was a great value for money.